This past Monday, Feb. 28, Spike Lee addressed audiences in Puget Sound’s Memorial Field House, living up to his reputation as an honest and captivating speaker.
“There was a big event on tv last night,” he opened, referencing the Oscars. But Lee did not attend the Academy Awards this year. There was “not much flavor,” he said, and he was extremely disappointed in the lack of nominations for people of color. He didn’t even know which film had been awarded Best Picture.
While many people, myself included, half expected the controversial Lee to step up to the microphone and deliver a scathing speech about racism and bigotry, Lee was instead humorous and well-spoken. His thoughtfulness inspired many in the audience, and his witty insights were often greeted with wild applause.
I was immediately struck by his earnestness and his readiness to challenge the defunct national system of racial inequalities. “In 2035, whites will be in the minority,” he said, “and there’s no need to be scared.” Hollywood, however, needs to take note in the change in demographic and consumer base, he continued.
He criticized the industry for their shortcomings in supporting African American artists. “Denzel got robbed… robbed… for Malcolm X,” he said.
Even Lee’s signature film, Do The Right Thing, a challenging movie about bigotry and violence in Brooklyn that has been lauded as a hallmark of American cinema, was not even nominated for an Oscar in 1989. Instead, the Best Picture award went to Driving Miss Daisy, or as Lee called it, “Driving Miss Mother-Fucking Daisy.”
Although he noted the gross discrepancies in the Academy’s acknowledgement of the achievements of African Americans in cinema, he seemed to keep it all in perspective.
“This award stuff, you can’t let it get to you, because the great stuff is going to last.”
In fact, Lee said that one of the proudest things in his life is that Do The Right Thing is now taught in courses at several leading universities in the U.S.
For the last eight years, Lee has served as the artistic director of the graduate film program at NYU’s illustrious Tisch School of the Arts.
He extolled the virtues of good education, but noted that as an undergrad at Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA, he had no idea what he wanted to do. He was an unmotivated C+ student until the summer between his sophomore and junior years, when he was given a camera and a box of film.
Living in Brooklyn, NY, at the time, Lee began to shoot footage of life around him, and once back at school the next fall, was convinced by a professor to turn it into a film. After it was well received by his class, Lee decided to become a filmmaker.
He said he instantly became an A student, inspired to learn everything he could about film and other subjects, because “to be a filmmaker, you have to know something about everything.”
He called on students to pick a major they feel passionate about and not to focus solely on making money. His job, he said, “is not a job. I’m doing what I love. I don’t drag myself out of bed in the morning.”
He credited his family and friends, especially his grandmother, for supporting him. “I’ve been very fortunate,” he conceded.
Lee spent a large portion of the evening talking about the need for education reform. He lamented that only two percent of the teacher population today is comprised of African American males and that there are currently more African American males in prison than there are in college.
He said that he resents that if you are educated or speak proper English, you are denigrated as being “white.” African Americans who educate themselves are often negatively called “oreos,” he said, and popular music, tv, and movies perpetuate the vicious cycle. “It starts with the family,” Lee said.
Three-fourths of African American families are headed by a single mother, he told us, and he thought that young African American men desperately need strong male figures in their lives in order to grow up well.
He also cited crack addiction as a major contributing factor in today’s achievement gap. “We need to restructure the system,” he said. “It’s criminal that we have young people in this country who don’t have art classes.” He said that he enjoyed the film Waiting for Superman, calling it “a great piece of work.”
Lee’s presence was one of humor, intelligence and compassion. During the Q&A portion of the evening, he navigated a sea of questions with empathy and kindness, indulging even the strangest of questions and requests.
One man stepped up to the microphone, announcing that he was a 77 year-old who had just finished his first film. Lee, along with the rest of the audience, applauded for him. “I have a how-to question, though,” the man continued. “How do I get this film out there? It’s about racial inequalities in school. I have a copy here for you.” “What’s it called?” asked Lee, and after approving of its title, Walk Right In, rose from his chair to accept the copy. The audience again applauded wildly for both Lee and the questioner.
Lee said the actor he wants to work most with is Sean Penn, and that the change from “nigger” to “slave” in Mark Twain’s works was “retarded.”
He said that the top two things he wants to accomplish in the next twenty years are the maintenance of his health and to continue making films.
Monday’s “Evening with Spike Lee” served as a good reminder that although the 60s have passed, there is still much to be done in the United States to combat the crippling effects of racial inequality.
When asked what one should do to help change education in this country, Lee invoked John F. Kennedy’s 1962 “we choose to go to the moon” speech.
“We’ve got to make a mandate,” Lee said, “we’ve got to make it a priority.”